Former Sedgwick County commissioner collapses at retirement party; the retiree renders aid
A longtime Sedgwick County administrative assistant, who is also a volunteer emergency medical technician, participated in a rescue at her own retirement ceremony when one of her former bosses collapsed in the audience.
Lisa Corr responded immediately when former Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Unruh collapsed, said Commissioner Jim Howell, who was delivering a speech praising Corr when the emergency occurred.
“I was up there doing my tribute (to Corr),” Howell said. “From her perspective she could see (Unruh collapse) and she just got up and ran to the back of the room.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Unruh are dear to me,” Corr said. “I had 16 years with Mr. Unruh, and I was just sitting there as Mr. Howell was reading, and I thought, I can’t sit here. Something’s going on, and he needs my help.”
Corr was joined by county Emergency Medical Director Kevin Lanterman, who is himself using crutches after recent surgery, and Assistant EMS Director Angela Fuller, Howell said.
The trio rendered aid until paramedics arrived and took Unruh to the hospital by ambulance. It was not immediately known why Unruh collapsed, he said.
“When they wheeled him out of the room, he was conscious and talking,” Howell said. “I was really glad to see that.”
Corr sought to downplay her part in the rescue. “I was no hero,” she said. She said the EMS chiefs took the lead on administering medical aid, so she mainly concentrated on comforting and supporting Unruh’s wife, Karen.
While the EMTs did their work, Howell led the audience of about 100 in a prayer for Unruh to be all right.
Corr, 69, has been a volunteer EMT since 1981, when she was one of 14 in an inaugural class of volunteer emergency medical professionals in Rolla, Kansas.
She has been a volunteer EMT in Clearwater since moving there In 1996. She earned her AEMT — advanced emergency medical technician — certification in 2012.
She said she plans to recertify again in December and continue volunteering for Clearwater. “I probably have a couple years left doing that,” she said.
It was fitting that Corr, who has assisted 21 different county commissioners over her 25 years with the county, would end her career with one more act of assistance.
“They had us to their home for dinner and Christmas parties,” Corr said of the Unruhs. “They’re family. That’s what commissioners are, they become your family.”
